regression of a 2 year old

So we aren't sure what's going on with Bella. We don't know if she's just being 2 or if my surgery and getting out of a routine has just thrown her. Dad said two year olds go through highs and lows...so I'm hoping this will pass soon. This past week she had 6 accidents. She hasn't had an accident since she started potty training. So I feel like we are back to almost the beginning. Yesterday and today were better so we'll see at school she's great it's just at home. Needless to say we are back to pull ups and am not sure how the trip to Ohio this week will affect her. I know she'll have a blast but it could also be interesting with the tantrums she's been throwing...worse than ever before. Yesterday I asked her if she wanted pancakes and she said no she wanted cereal so she sat down and was eating her cereal. Then Joel came in and said he was going to have pancakes anyway and she starting sobbing that she wanted pancakes too. It was like her whole world was crushed...and no one ever said she couldn't have them so we got her calmed down and she ate pancakes with daddy. That's just an example. Besides the tantrums she is nuts...she's into singing and dancing more than usual! She has to help with EVERYTHING...which is another hard point because she gets frustrated when she can't do it. BUT she still keeps us laughing through it all. She has been super cuddly lately and I'm not sure if it's because I can't pick her up for a few more weeks (although I have picked her up in the midst of her peeing on the floor a few times or in the middle of a tantrum), but when I'm sitting she always has to be on my lap and reading stories she just lays on me and hugs me. So here are some pictures and videos from the week...

Bella walking in my shoes. She is like me when I was little...I used to put an ace wrap on every little ouchy...bella loves band-aids. She has to wear one every day (abover her left knee in the picture) and she has no ouchy but she thinks she does...or if she runs into something or falls she says she needs her ice packs from the freezer. She has also gotten really cuddly with Cosmo. That started after we put up the tree and we were talking about Zona when we put her ornament up. She's been covering Cosmo with her blankets and then sitting and patting him to sleep. The other night she had 3 blankets, a pillow and her teddy for Cosmo. Poor guy must have been roasting under all that.

The other morning she wanted to hold Gabby and read her a book.

Our smiley girl.

Gabby loved her monkey the other day after nap time...she had the best time hanging out while I finished my work.

Bella being a helper...here she is feeding Gabby. Poor Gabby she had sweet potatoes everywhere.

Last night she also made up a new song. She did it with everyone's name although the video only has a few...by the time I got the camera she was on the tail end of it.

Hope everyone has a great week...and we can't wait to see everyone in Indy and Ohio this weekend. Every time we say we need to pack that for Ohio, Bella starts in with spelling O-H-I-O. Her first words she can spell...daddy is so proud.

Picture Time

We got some adorable pictures this morning. This includes Bella's 2 year, Gabby 6 months and Christmas.

So this morning Bella was so excited to be wearing tights and new black shoes and her dress. She also was a big fan of the pigtails (although she kept playing with them making them uneven). She was in the bathroom for about 20 minutes checking herself out in the mirror. Then it was on to pick up Uncle Ryan (I wasn't going to attempt this alone). Ryan got in the car and she started with "see my pretty shoes", "See my pretty tights" "see my pretty hair" "see my pretty dress". Gabby had eaten and took a cat nap so everything was going to plan. Both girls did good. Unfortunately the photographer was new (I think her first day) and didn't understand that you can't try and pose a 2 year old and expect her to stay that way for long, so Bella had finally had it and was being defiant but sometimes silly and we kept thinking take the picture. So we ended up with some cute ones but a lot of the personality ones we missed out on because the photographer just wanted her sit and smile and she waited to take the shot. Finally Ryan and I were like ohhh that's a cute picture (when Bella reached over and grabbed Gabby or went to kiss her). Those were some of the cutest and she almost wasn't going to take them. Well that was my little ranting. For the most part Bella was great and Gabby was just so happy! You can see some teeth in some of them. Gabby must have been pooped because we got in the car at 10:45 and she fell asleep until just a minutes ago at 2:30! Well I hope you enjoy the pictures.

6 months, plus funny stories

So Gabby was a whopping 18 lbs & 2 oz at her appointment on Friday. She was also 26 inches so she's still in the same percentiles. The doctor notice her wheezing...from all her colds she keeps catching from Bella, so she had a ventilator delivered to the house so we could do breathing treatments at night. Gabby doesn't seem to care about them except she keeps trying to eat the part where the mist comes out. The doctor loves our girls and she is amused by Bella every time we are in the office. Luckily Joel went with me to carry the girls. That night the health care supply company stopped by while we were decorating the tree and asked if it was Bella that was sick. We told him no it was the little one, so he looked at Joel holding Gabby and said poor little linebacker! We shut the door and cracked up. Poor Gabby...everyone thinks she's a boy unless she's in pink or purple...so I guess this means a trip to get her ears pierced.




So Bella was all about helping put the tree up. She kept saying "I do it" and "I help you". We opened our three tubs and Bella said "WOW". She was excited to see what was in all of them. We put her little people Nativity up with her help. We put the tree up and she said "Oooo Pretty Tree". Once we got the ornaments up we tried to remind her not to touch them anymore, since we didn't want them to fall off. So yesterday when Gabby was touching one of them, she quickly told Gabby "No Touch Gabby".



We have some large silver balls for the tree and Bella notice she could see herself in them, so she proceeded to have a 15 minute conversation with herself in the ball. It was so funny. It took me awhile to figure out who she was talking to but then of course I grabbed the camera for a few seconds of it.



Gabby loves all the lights and shinny things on the tree. She kept looking up at it today. Of course I had to deck her out in all her gear...Santa hat and reindeer booties. Bella was upset she didn't have a Santa hat so I guess I have to go get her one too. She had one last year that was adorable...so we'll see.



Other funny stories - at Thanksgiving Bella didn't want to eat turkey; however she loved the "chicken" instead. I was feeding Gabby and kept wondering why Joel kept asking Bella if she liked her chicken. Apparently they had told her the turkey was chicken once they realized she wasn't going to touch turkey. Oddly enough yesterday when having leftovers, Joel asked her if she wanted turkey or chicken and she said turkey and then ate Joel plate of food.

Bella is being the typical 2-year old with lots of tantrums lately. She's probably been in time out more the past few days then she's been playing. She wants to do everything herself and then she gets upset when she can't figure it out. She's back to her "no" phase and even in her time out chair tries to push the limits. She stretches trying to reach the door to close it or plays with her light. I caught her out of the corner of my eye running to grab a book and running back to her chair. Sometimes it's really hard not to laugh when she's laying upside down in her chair. I guess it's all about testing the limits. I'm hoping that getting back into a routine this week will help.


There were a few more funny things Bella has said recently but I can't think of them right now. She copies everything we say so she's trying so hard to say everything. Today I asked her if she wanted chicken noodle soup and she said "Yes please mama, noodle poop". Uncle Ryan was over and he about fell to the floor laughing. We're still working on Merry Christmas...what she said doesn't sound like it at all, but Joel was practicing with her and then said Happy Quanza and she said that perfectly...too funny.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving. I am especially grateful for my family this year. Without everyone's help I don't know how I would survive having two little ones...especially since I had surgery a few days ago. I got home on Tuesday and the girls stayed at Papa and Nana's a few extra days. They came home last night and by the time they were in bed I was exhausted and could hardly move. This morning I woke up feeling great and after a long day I still feel pretty good...although I am going to bed once I'm done with this. Sorry this is short, but I'm tired.

Here is the family at Thanksgiving.
Bella helped make the stuffing.

Gabby enjoyed her squash and applesauce while everyone ate. I even enjoyed a little turkey and a couple bites of green beans and potatoes. If you look close you can see her bottom two teeth.

This picture pretty much sums up what Bella did after her nap and before dinner - ran around non-stop.

I'm not sure where this started...but she has become obsessed with putting her socks on her hands...and making sock puppets.

Last week Grammy Nita and Grandpa Logan were in town and we got to spend the night having enchiladas...It was the first time they had met either of the girls. It was also the night of the first sign that I may have Gall Stones...I had a little episode and dad thought that might be the case.

Bella LOVES art and coloring.

Gabby in all her giggling and smiling glory.

Bella sharing the cell phone with Gabby so she could "talk" to daddy.

Gabby likes to play in the blanket. She kept lifting up her hands so of course I asked her "how much did she love mommy?"

Gabby LOVES techno music. So Uncle Ryan had put on music when she was in Nana's bouncer and she went bouncing crazy.


Here's her giggle video

And last but not least - the way she eats cracks me up. I can't shovel it in fast enough.

Hope everyone has a great time over the long weekend. I can't wait to get the tree up. We go for Gabby's 6 month appointment tomorrow...so we'll see how big she is. I'm guessing over 17 lbs. I'm only supposed to carry 10 lbs for the next 4 weeks...I told the doctor I would try and limit it but it was near impossible for me to not pick her up for a month.

Unexpected Surgery

Well I am sitting here in the hospital bored and starving. I had been having painful episodes in the middle of the night, so yesterday when one hit me at 4 am and last 2 1/2 hours I headed to the E.R. They sent me home thinking it was gastritis; however they had done an ultrasound and found gall stones. The said they were not inflamed so he didn't think that was it. I went home and had another episode, so I called dad who then called his good friend who is a general surgeon. Dr. Hernandez admitted me and I'll have my gall bladder removed tomorrow morning at 6:30.

I guess you never know God's timing. The girls are with Uncle Ry-rie, Nana and Papa. Joel is here with me. Luckily he is off Thursday and Friday....but Thanksgiving dinner will not be nearly as indulging for me! It is strange to not have the girls near, but Joel is going to go pick them up for me so we can hang out a little bit. I should be home tomorrow night or Tuesday morning depending how I am moving after surgery. Thanks for all the prayers.

By the way...Gabby has two teeth coming in. We discovered them Friday night. She had been a little fussy Friday and then I found out why. She is such a good baby.

If I could bottle something up forever...

it would be the girls laughing and their hugs (minus the hair pulling from Gabby). Tonight we headed into the shower for a little steam session to help everyone's congestion. I don't know what it was, but Gabby started laughing hysterically at Bella...and Bella was just sitting there...I have no idea what was so funny to her. I had never heard her laugh so loud and hard. Her belly was shaking and she was doing these high pitched squeals and giggles. Bella was confused to as why Gabby was laughing so hard, so of course Bella and I started laughing at Gabby which then made Gabby laugh even harder. I wish Joel had been home so we could have recorded it. I did get a video from last night...once again she found something comical that Bella was doing and started her giggles...it was just about half of what tonight's were. I'll try and post it this weekend.

It was exhausting getting both girls in bed, but the little moments made it so worth it. I timed it pretty good and after the shower Gabby ate and fell asleep halfway through her bottle. Then I was able to read to Bella, which turned into a snuggle sing-a-long session. I LOVE Bella's hugs and when she snuggles up. I can't wait until Gabby does it too. I guess I got spoiled with Joel's help the past few weeks with him coming home to help, but then I start working and he's been going back to work until 12 or 1...last night it was about 1:30 when he got home. I'm glad the girls get a little time with him at night even though we have both been running on empty and barely see each other...he is a wonderful daddy and we all love him to pieces. I am looking forward to next week when we both have a few days off. I'm sure we'll both do some work, but at least it won't be the entire day!

Sorry no pictures...still in the camera. I am going into the office tomorrow and Thursday so I don't have work tonight....headed to take a nice quiet bath and get into bed...hoping the girls stay in bed.

Pinchable Cheeks.

So I was looking to see what Bella was wearing when she was almost 6 months...to see if I needed to go get a few 12 month winter things for Gabby (which I think is a yes since I don't think she'll be in 9 month clothes much longer and we still have a couple months of long-sleeves to go). Anyway...I couldn't resist posting this one of Bella...it still amazes me how much they look alike. There are slight differences, but I think everyone will always know they're sisters.